An education “crisis” means Victoria won’t have enough high skilled workers to deliver a knowledge-based economy, STEM groups are warning as the Allan government weighs changes to the state curriculum.
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) groups are pressing the government, state opposition and the Greens to elevate the fields in the Victorian curriculum and provide more education resources.
Without it, Victoria will remain overly reliant on immigration for STEM workers and the pool of future leaders will continue to shrink, according to a new report that warns of a “crisis in STEM engagement and in science teaching”.

The brief report says various efforts have failed to lift participation rates in senior secondary science and mathematics courses, which have declined nationally since 2019.
The report and call for action comes from the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE), the Royal Society of Victoria (RSV) and the Science Teachers’ Association of Victoria (STAV).
The groups want more teaching staff and resources to be able to enforce the requirement for science education up to the end of Year 10 and to incentivise students to stick with it in year 11 and 12.
Science should also be elevated to the “status of numeracy and literacy” in Victoria, the report said.
A parliamentary inquiry into the state education system in Victoria last year heard the curriculum needed to return its focus to foundational areas like mathematics, science, English and literacy.
The state Education department told the inquiry that workforce pressures are particularly acute in the STEM subjects, despite a push in the last few years to train more primary teachers in STEM.
The inquiry in October recommended the state’s “overcrowded” curriculum be regularly reviewed and that a “serious” teacher shortfall be addressed, among other sweeping changes
However, the only STEM specific recommendation was for a review of lesson pans and materials for STEM and other core subjects.
The Allan government has until April to provide a response.
ATSE, RSV and STAV have circulated their warnings to the Victorian government, as well as to the Coalition’s and the Greens’ education portfolio holders.
Royal Society of Victoria CEO Mike Flattley the state’s education system needs to improve to deliver a skilled workforce.
“A failure to invest in our science teachers and classrooms is a failure to back Victorian kids as future leaders in our nation’s knowledge-based economy,” he said.
ATSE CEO Kylie Walker said better supported teachers will encourage more students to take up STEM subjects.
“We cannot continue to rely on immigration to provide Victoria with the engineers we need in the future,” she said.
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